Linkhorne Midde School eighth-grader Sarah Phillips made it all the way to Round Three of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday, correctly spelling the word "voortrekker" on stage during the live event that was viewed on national television and can also be seen on www.watchespn.com.
Photo credit: Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee
Earlier Wednesday in Round Two, Sarah spelled the word "exacerbate" correctly, but she fell short of reaching the semifinals based on her results in the Round One computer-based test. The test included 50 words, but only 25 "score words" that counted for the spellers. Each speller received one point for each correctly spelled score word during Round One, and three points for each word spelled correctly during Rounds Two and Three.
Only 50 out of 278 spellers made the semifinal cut.